Should TikTok be banned in the USA (AND WHY)?

[Gagname]

Image from article below

Reference article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/qai/2023/03/27/could-tiktok-get-banned-before-it-goes-public-congress-hearing-throws-doubt-on-companys-future/?sh=1869398b7faf

Note: Choose the answer-option that most closely matches your response to this question.

A - HELL YES

B - Yes

C - PROBABLY YES (but I’m not sure)

D - I DON’T CARE either way

E - PROBABLY NOT (but I’m not sure)

F - No

G - HELL NO

Updates

2 mo

UPDATE 1:
FYI — per the following article:

www.cisecurity.org/.../why-tiktok-is-the-latest-security-threat

“The data TikTok collects from users [includes] browsing history, app and file names and types, keystroke patterns [and] geolocation [and] can include age, image, personal contacts [and] the content of [messages]…

To use the platform, users grant the app access to the microphone and camera. Multiple lawsuits allege that TikTok also collects biometric data from users…”

Updates

2 mo

UPDATE 2:
See the following video provided by @gorydetails in his opinion…

rumble.com/...ill-make-america-more-like-chin.html

Also:
See the “Govt Power Grab” screenshots I took from the “Tucker Carlson Tonight” tv talk show that was on last night…

https://imgur.com/a/RHgtiaJ?s=sms

[gorydetails]

So here’s the thing. While on the surface, I support us preventing the CCP from mining our phones, I dislike the idea of giving the federal government to just ban a social media platform at will. This will be used against the government’s political enemies. As we see from the democrat party already they have no problem abusing government to go after people who disagree with them.

[Gagname]

So which answer-option did you select in the poll?

[gorydetails]

Efff

[gorydetails]

rumble.com/...ill-make-america-more-like-chin.html

[Gagname]

Thank you for providing this.
I saw that on Tucker’s show last night.

[gorydetails]

The last time republicans and democrats agreed on something we got the patriot act.

[Europa789076]

PRISM was launched from the ashes of President George W. Bush’s domestic surveillance programs, which were abandoned due to lawsuits, disclosures in the media and widespread protest.

Due to past controversies, this program was given the legal go-ahead by the U. S. Congress when it passed the Protect America Act in 2007. Also, the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 gave legal immunity to private companies that cooperated voluntarily with U. S Intelligence agencies.

[Europa789076]

Microsoft became PRISM’s first partner in 2007 and the NSA began collecting vast amounts of data from its servers. Other companies joined the program in due course. In 2008, Congress gave the Justice Department authority to compel a reluctant company to “comply” with the needs of PRISM. This means that even companies that were not willing to join the program voluntarily had to do so at the behest of a court order.

[LiamJHayden]

Nope, but parents should consider keeping their kids off that cesspool.

[MrOracle]

Yes. Primarily because the app has been proven to harvest your data - including massive amounts of data that has nothing to do with the app - and all of that data is accessible by the CCP, which is using AI to build detailed profiles on everyone.

If you have the app installed, you can be assured that the CCP has access to all of your passwords, emails, text messages, pictures, and videos. They know who is in your contacts and they can connect you to those people in various other ways. They know how in debt you are and to whom, they know what medicines you take, and much more. And they absolutely intend to use that information against you - whistle blowers have made the crystal clear.

It's also true that the non-Chinese version of the algorithm is designed to show you divisive and ever more radical content with the intent of sowing divisions in our society - which is true of most other social media too - but they further censor heavily to reinforce their desired narrative.

The CCP wants you not to care - they want you to believe that TikTok is just harmless cat videos - but it's literally the seeds of your own destruction.

[MrOracle]

by the way, I should make it clear that I absolutely OPPOSE this new bill, which goes SOOOOOO far beyond any reasonable amount of regulation that it's treasonous just to propose. Congress's solution is like nuking a city because one ant was found in a house - this new bill essentially gives the government completely and total control over absolutely everything online, with zero transparency and zero accountability. This bill gives them permission to imprison you and take everything you own - LITERALLY - based on a claim that you are an enemy of the state without any evidence or even probable cause, and with absolutely zero due process.

It's the most evil piece of legislation I've ever read, and they want you to believe that it's for YOUR protection. It isn't - it's to take every bit of your power and rights away from you and to give them to the government.

[Gagname]

Yeah, the “Restrict Act” is huge “government overreach” and is mentioned by @gorydetails in his opinion, and the Jesse Watters show describes it as the “Patriot Act on steroids; and it’s an example of “never let[ting] a serious crisis go to waste…”
www.brainyquote.com/quotes/rahm_emanuel_409199

[MrOracle]

in my opinion, anyone in government who has supported the Restrict Act should be - at the very least, impeached and banned from any kind of public service for life for this kind of treason - and that includes BOTH sides of the isle. This goes SO far over the line of our Constitution that there's simply no getting around it - it's treasonous.

[Gagname]

NOTE:
I have already placed 2 “Updates” in the last 7 days, so I need to communicate the below to people this way…

ALL - See the following article, which mentions the " “Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology" (RESTRICT) act”…

hothardware.com/.../us-restrict-act-end-the-internet-and-freedom-as-we-know-it

The RESTRICT act is mentioned by mentioned by @gorydetails & @MrOracle in their opinions, and the above article says it “gives the government ridiculously wide-reaching powers with little oversight. This allows the government to control and censor information and imposes heavy penalties on people that attempt to avoid these powers.”

[Europa789076]

Dishfire
Another surveillance program called Dishfire collects almost 200 million text messages from across the world and uses them to extract data such as location, contact networks and credit card details.

Using this information, the NSA could extract people’s travel plans, financial transactions and more. In addition, another program called “Prefer” conducts an automated analysis of these text messages on all individuals, even those who were not under the suspicion of any illegal activity.
For example, on an average, the NSA was able to extract information related to 1.6 million border crossings and over 800,000 financial transactions through text-to-text payments using “Prefer.”

[Europa789076]

Besides wiretapping and ISP spying, credit card transactions are also cataloged and stored in NSA’s servers for analysis.

[loveslongnails]

" but it's literally the seeds of your own destruction." Hmm... you mean like Marx said that Capitalism contains the seeds of its own destruction?" Everything you do on you phone or computer is harvested. Facebook and IG are no better.

" the algorithm is designed to show you divisive and ever more radical content with the intent of sowing divisions in our society " ... Excuse me, but we already HAVE that and it's on TV and social media every day. They're called the Republican Party, and they feature toadies like Marjorie Greene, Jim Jordan, Matt Gaetz, Ron DeSantis, Kevin McCarthy, and TV personalities like Fox News liars Tucker Carlson, Hannity, Ingraham, et. al.

We have school boards banning the story of Rosa Parks and Dr. Seuss' the Lorax. We have red states passing legislation that will increase kid suicides by denying them medical care from the very SAME institutions the same states use for guidance in ALL OTHER medical care instances! You have the Council for National Policy - even the name presumes they speak for the whole nation - which is working to push their version of Christianity into government, the VERY thing the founding fathers wanted nothing to do with !!

You want division and radical content? Turn on your TV or CSPAN and listen to the vomit these Senators and Reps are spewing every day, then getting it back up by Fox idiots. You want division - try talking to a Maga nut who still thinks Trump is as pure as driven snow.

By the way, your phone is as safe as you make it. You can choose to store nothing on it - no passwords, no credit cards, no wallets. Do I really care if the Chinese know I have a cat because I order kitty litter? Google knows all your contacts too. So does Facebook. Do you REALLY think we're safe from those guys using information against us?

[loveslongnails]

It does indeed.

[Rosexøxø]

Yes it should 🤷‍♀️.

I heard some news guy say something like- why does the government paint them to be so bad.

And I thought to myself-

…

does he REALLY think- that our government is trying to SEPARATE US? From CHINA? What would ever be the motive. His comment followed no rational thinking.

He just blurted that I suppose.

He continued with:

”the Chinese people are very nice and usually quiet. A lot let [whatever] than the Americans.”

AND I JUST THOUGHT:

Of course!!! They don’t have free speech over there, dumbass 😩😭. He’s trying to compare the citizens from there and our citizens- what was he actually expecting.

If China is spying on us, and all of our young people are having tough times being online- while documenting a lot of their lives, and can hardly get off of tiktok- then I think we ought to intervene and help them with this digital addiction as if it were some opioid.

I am even suspicious of the fact that this platform is the words of a clock ticking by…

so much time spent on there? … so much time passing by? .. Tik? Tok? ⏰

Maybe we should be more concerned, but I easily think we could make our own tiktok. The us should make more items, anyhow.

[Rosexøxø]

Voted hell yes

[Sirenboobzilla]

No.
A.) Seems most people can't tell the difference between Singapore and China, which is disturbing. B.) China doesn't need TT to spy on us; there are so many other tools at their disposal for it, one being the bloody internet at large.
C.) That hearing made something painfully obvious: our politicians are very easily bought... It was clear, judging by all of the butchered words, that their questions were written for them and weren't discussed beforehand. It was clear that money was the root of the conversation; be it from many of those very same politicians buying stock at Meta, Zuckerberg paying almost 20 mill to lobby against Meta's biggest competition at the moment, and the fact that other companies such as Meta themselves, Google, Amazon and others store and sell the very data that they're worried about TT getting their hands on.

[Johnnyjay]

Meta Google Amazon are American.

[Sirenboobzilla]

I know 👀

[Sasha0426]

No, it shouldn’t! If you have watched the hearing, they can’t even give good reasons why it should be banned. And the CEO is surprisingly calm while everyone in Congress is screaming like banshees because the CEO won’t back down. And if you want TikTok to be banned, you better ban all social media apps.

[Gagname]

See UPDATE 1 to this question for what the security threat is.

[FeelingGroovy]

Yes. It boggles my mind as to why the US can't create an app that is just as good as TikTok.

Ban TikTok and ban all Chinese imports. How is it possible that Apple, Microsoft and Google, can't make an app even better than the Chinese app?

[Gagname]

“Ban all Chinese imports”?
…Including iPhones and the other products made in China?

asianbusinessside.com/.../

[FeelingGroovy]

That is correct. iPhones are assembled in Taiwan. But soon China will invade them and take them over.

[Vegasrunner]

@feelinggroovy Well the obvious answer is they may not have the same caliber people of those companies. Another reason could be that most apps lack profitability so there's no value in creating a similar one.

[FeelingGroovy]

@Vegasrunner
Ban the Chinese spy app, and charge $3.00 for the US version of the app.

[Gagname]

@feelinggroovy
iPhones are NOT assembled in Taiwan, they are assembled by 2 companies which are HEADQUARTERED in Taiwan…

“[the iPhone’s] components might come from sources all over the globe, [but] all of them are sent to only two other companies, responsible for assembling them: Foxconn and Pegatron, both based in Taiwan.

Foxconn has worked with Apple for years and its largest factory is located in Zhengzhou, China, but the company also has other locations which include, but are not limited to South Korea, the Philippines and the Czech Republic.”

techthelead.com/.../

Foxconn assembles iPhones in India, too, along with Pegatron…

www.reuters.com/.../

“Pegatron's India plant took over some production of Apple iPhones due to the pandemic affecting its Shenzhen operations.”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegatron

See also:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn

[FeelingGroovy]

I stand corrected. Thank you for setting straight.

STOP ALLOWING CHINESE IMPORTS INTO THE US!

Did I get that right?

[Gagname]

You’re welcome.
So many products are made in China that that seems impossible…

asianbusinessside.com/.../

[FeelingGroovy]

When we go to war with them, you'll see what's impossible and what's not. We sent a probe to Pluto, but we now longer have the ability to make televisions in America.

[gorydetails]

rumble.com/...ill-make-america-more-like-chin.html

[Vegasrunner]

@feelinggroovy Quality might not be as good

[FeelingGroovy]

@Vegasrunner

Who cares? It's the US version or nothing

[Vegasrunner]

@feelinggroovy The customer cares which is all that matters.

[FeelingGroovy]

If it's banned the customer won't get a choice.

[Vegasrunner]

@feelinggroovy They would just stop using the product. You're idea is unrealistic anyway as the majority of US products are already manufactured overseas so its unlikely that you could force people to not purchase Chinese made products.

[FeelingGroovy]

Am I allowed to have my own opinion or do you have to approve of my opinion? And why are you even talking to me?

[Vegasrunner]

@feelinggroovy You're welcome to hold whatever opinion you like, no matter how incorrect it is. I'm simply telling you that it's unrealistic.

[Europa789076]

PRISM, under which the National Security Agency (NSA) accesses emails, documents, photographs and other sensitive users’ data stored in major companies.

Documents leaked by Snowden show that Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube and Apple give the NSA direct access to its users’ information. According to the documents, Dropbox also joined this list (one of the many reasons we recommend our readers stick with secure alternatives to this service).

[John_Doesnt]

It's hypocritical and stupid to ban TikTok. American companies like Google and Facebook have been caught red handed spying on people and exploiting people. The insurrection was a direct attack on American democracy and it was incited on Twitter not TikTok. But we're not banning those social medias. I don't think we should ban any social media and we should leave it up to the public to guard their own privacy. Whatever happened to personal responsibility?

[Johnnyjay]

The whole point is that this is a foreign company. It's pretty basic. Listing American companies is not the same.

[John_Doesnt]

@Johnnyjay it's exactly the same because American companies have caused serious harm. Twitter was responsible for inciting the insurrection which was a direct attack on our democracy and it's an American company.

[Johnnyjay]

Yes.. those are still DIFFERENT issues. Not a foreign country having our information.

[John_Doesnt]

@Johnnyjay no it is not different, because those US companies have caused just as much harm to America as foreign companies.

[ZackBan]

Let me rephrase.
Should "the app that censors educational info and promotion borderline child pornography" be banned? And why yes?

[Gagname]

How did you vote in the poll to this question—Yes or HELL YES?

[gorydetails]

rumble.com/...ill-make-america-more-like-chin.html

[genericname85]

naw. cause currently it's one of the very few popular media windows that lets you look outside of the propagana curtain. which is probably the reason they're trying to stop it now.

[Gagname]

See UPDATE 1 to this question for what the security threat is.

[genericname85]

oh, i know tiktok is used for chinese propaganda psyops. just like facebook google and twitter was for america before elon bought it.

should facebook and google be banned, cause they're American psyops tools? or is it acceptable if the psyop comes from your own country?

[Gagname]

I’m not sure about the other sites/apps but per UPDATE 1 to this question, among other things TikTok is a huge data security/privacy risk because it “collects [a user’s] browsing history, app and file names and types, keystroke patterns [and] geolocation…[and] the content of [messages]…” — so (as well as other user sensitive information) user passwords to apps/sites and bank & other accounts are collected via TikTok.

[genericname85]

the same is true for the entire internet my man.

[Gagname]

I DON’T agree that — I DON’T think that other sites/apps collect “keystroke patterns & the content of messages,” nor are they on the hook to provide this data to the government under a “National Intelligence Law” (like China has).

[Gagname]

* I DON’T agree WITH that

[genericname85]

that's how every website works that lets you put in text. even this very website. and all conversations on here as well as whatsapp, facebook messenger and all that are the same. all fully transparent to the fbi and therefore the government. that's not an opinion. that's a fact.

remember how elon had to "fire a lot of people" when he bought twitter. he basically had to remove all the fbi undercover assholes that did exactly that.

also you know Edward Snowden is in exile for having leaked pretty much exactly that fact to the public right?

[Gagname]

The difference is that TikTok just doesn’t have access to the content of text in its app, TikTok (unlike the other sites/apps) collects the contents of basically everything on a user’s device.

[genericname85]

that's nonsense. android and apple aren't operating systems that would allow an app to do that without at least asking you for permission.

[shi-shi]

I'll let tiktok spy on me as long as I can keep watching 10 second videos on the toilet

[Gagname]

Lol. Is that when you most watch the videos?

[shi-shi]

No tbh but the worst feeling is when you go to poop but you forgot your phone and now there's nothing to watch 😂

[Gagname]

Ok lol

[lightbulb27]

I said probably, although that's extreme.

The problem is americans are stupid.

Isn't it odd that we'd ban a social media app because it's dangerous, but we can buy a high magazine rifle?

[Anonymous]

No

We should question why the American government are so threatened by this app. They've got something to hide.

[Gagname]

See UPDATE 1 to this question for what the security threat is.

[AnusNdaPainus]

Yes.

The number one job kids in China want is to be an Astronaut

the number one job kids in America want us to be an influencer

compare these two societies to each other in 10 years

[Anonymous]

NO because it cures my depression, seriously.

[Gagname]

I’m sorry that you have depression.

[SmokinAces2000]

Have you heard the dumb shit congress was saying? Can’t believe they are in any form of government

[Gagname]

Which answer-option did you select in the poll?

[SmokinAces2000]

No..

[Anonymous]

No because I feel like their just empty threats because they talked about this in 2020 and it never happened plus if they do ban it their going to have to deal with a lot of backlash from angry TikTokers

[Dargil]

It should be sold to American investors with no connection to China.

[Anonymous]

I'm not on TikTok anyway. People know the risks, and if they wanna take that chance, that's on them.
Ban it, don't ban it, I don't care

[Opinion Owner]

China is already spying on us anyway, I don't think it'll make a huge difference

[Europa789076]

and the US government is also spying on us anyway

[Opinion Owner]

Exactly lol

[Hispanic-Cool-Guy]

I don't think so but if we do then just get an American version type of tik tok.

The website is very entertaining at least to me.

[najekim]

I don't care either way since I'll never be using it.

[Softlife808]

No it shouldn't be banned. USA is only doing that because the creator is Chinese. America has the worst reputation in the world yet want to ban innocent tiktok lol. Silly